HtotheOV -- Question for you: for Surf City, you seem to have gone with a traditional line up in terms of start times, i.e., A's go last and B's somewhere in the middle. That seems sensible to me -- if the A's go last, it seems likely that more people will be around throughout the day. But a lot of other races are not following the same line up -- most of the other races this season seem to have the A's in the middle and the B's going last. I don't understand the logic of B's racing last -- it means that a lot of people leave after the A's race, and neither the racers nor the promoters have (good) crowds throughout the day. Do you know why other races switched the B's from the middle to the end of the day (my recollection is that last year, almost all the races followed the Surf City like schedule)? Also, I must admit I was a bit curious about some of the comments about the B's of late on the CXBlog and elsewhere (see "ProB's" yada yada). Cross has always seemed very friendly and encouraging to me -- and it's a nice refresher after racing on the road, where you have to listen to plenty of criticisms of the Cat 4s before you pay your dues and move up to the 3s or 1/2s. I've only been at it a year, but the cross comraderie certainly seems alive and well amongst the B's -- it's always seemed like a competitive and fun group to me, a group that does not curse or fight too much, blah blah. It's worth noting that all of the people called out (with photos) in the "proB's" post are now A's -- maybe they were right to take racing as a B seriously. In the end, I guess it bumms me out to see people ripping on racers in any category for having nice bikes, a serious attitude or whatever. If someone is having fun and doing no harm, they should not have their picture posted as an example of someone who is "posing" as a pro. Sorry for the long comment.

well, i think race times were switched around a bit to try and limit warm-up issues between categories ... but, i can't be sure about it. It's a touch nut to crack re: when to schedule categories. but, i personally am in favor of the way Surf City schedules.

as far as the B bagging, that's just Da'Carr doing a little smack talk. I'm of the opinion it's NOT a widespread phenomenon. I'm in favor, STRONGLY, of people buying as expensive of stuff they can. That's dollars into the sport. And personally, i think one should look as chingon and flash as possible ... no matter what the speed.

i like it when people put an effort into presenting themselves and their equipment well (please note my teammate Josh Snead on the podium wearing his scrubfuk jeans on the podium ... BIG No-No ~ he'll get a talking to).

anyway, i'd put that nonsense out of your mind. More important is the discussion on riders being courteous during their warmup on the course and during the actual races. Example, I came in full throttle to the final 100m at the Round 2 of the NCNCA Cup and there was a dude warming up (yes, he was a B), pedaling without a thought in the world right in the middle of a tight chicane.

what the?

That's the stuff that irks me. How can you not respect the people out on course racing? No matter if their Elites or Junior C's.